A New View
by M.H. Torringjan
Summary: Nephlite uses a negative experience to see the other side of the issue. Took a long time to finish, but it's finally done. C&C appreciated.


A New View  
  
by: M. H. Torringjan  
  
I don't own Sailor Moon. Period. Never have, never will. I don't own   
any of the characters mentioned in this fic. That honor is given to Naoko   
Takeuchi. I hope that you enjoy this fic. It's been a long time in the works,   
and I think that it's better than my other fics. And without any further ado...  
  
"Moon Tiara, Magic!" a young girl's voice called.  
"Mars Fire, Ignite!" called another girl's voice.  
"Mercury Bubbles, Blast!" called the third, lower girl's voice.  
As the force of the blow hit Nephlite, he screamed and watched as his   
youma disappear, blown to moon dust. The pain from the blow soon faded, and   
Nephlite struggled to his feet. He saw Sailor Moon preparing to deliver the   
final decisive shot that would render him lifeless. He summoned the last of his   
strength and uttered a transportation spell. He winked into the Oblivion.  
Nephlite became temporarily disoriented. The white sound hurt his ears.   
The sub-zero cold chilled to the bone. The darkness prevented him from seeing   
even himself.  
In the nothingness between reality, Nephlite realized that he wouldn't   
have the strength to make it all the way to the Negaverse. Which may not have   
been such a bad thing, considering his defeat a few moments ago. Queen Beryl   
wouldn't be too happy with him.  
He dropped back into reality, hoping that he had reached somewhere safe.  
When he opened his eyes in reality, he heard nothing of course, this was   
to be expected from the travel through Oblivion. He saw before him lush green   
foliage. His skin felt to be burning off from the transition of cold Oblivion   
to this warm- wherever it was. The humidity in the air could be smelled, almost   
tasted. His ears had adjusted, and he heard sounds of birds, or something, that   
he had never encountered or been briefed about.  
This, Nephlite thought to himself, must be one of those tropical rain-  
forests that I've heard about. Wonder why we weren't taught about this type of   
place in survival training.  
Now that his eyes had adjusted, Nephlite could see more than green   
clearly. The shades of every color and type of plants that he could see in   
a few square feet of land amazed him! As Nephlite gazed around at his   
surroundings, he noticed a rustling in the bushes. He wasn't sure what it was,   
but he knew that if it was dangerous, he wasn't strong enough for a struggle.   
He'd be killed by almost any hostile life-form.  
Nephlite performed the best action that he could do in this situation. He   
ran.  
After a couple of minutes of running, Nephlite felt safer. He couldn't   
hear anything except for a few birds and the rustling of the breeze. He stopped   
running and fell to the ground from exhaustion. No matter how uncomfortable he   
was, he doubted that he could have avoided falling asleep.  
  
When Nephlite awoke, he could smell the pungent scent of something sweet.   
His stomach growled. He started to search, hoping that the scent would lead to   
something good to eat.  
The fruit that Nephlite found was the reddest, the roundest, the most   
delicious-looking food that he had ever seen. He just hoped that it wasn't   
poisonous or anything. He took a small bite out of the fruit to get the taste   
in his mouth. The sweet juice wetted his palette, and the taste reminded him of   
just how hungry he was. He bit off some more greedily.  
Nephlite looked around to try and find someplace that he could make a   
suitable shelter in which he could live for a time. He hated the fact that he   
would have to wait for three days while his energy returned to him. In this   
state, he would have to use brute strength to survive.  
He hated using brute strength. It was so neanderthalic. So primitive.   
That was one of the reasons that he hated the humans. They didn't know the   
civilized way to fight. They were thousands of years away from it.  
Nephlite explored a bit to find some materials for a shelter. After a   
little searching, he found an area where some branches and large leaves had   
fallen from a tree and left a small clearing. He noticed that the underbrush   
had grown quickly to fill in the opening left by the fallen tree. The branches   
couldn't have fallen more than two days ago, and the trees had already grown to   
as tall as Nephlite himself.  
As Nephlite picked up the debris, he heard a scuttling sound on the   
ground. A small, brown rodent had been hiding in the pile that he had planned   
to use for his home. Oh, well, Nephlite thought to himself. It can find a home   
for itself.  
Nephlite enjoyed animals. They seemed, as opposed to popular beliefs, to   
be more civilized than the humans. Some of them were just so majestic.  
Nephlite slapped himself. What was he thinking? He was softening up! He   
would enjoy destroying this planet! Wouldn't he...?  
He continued dragging the branches along the ground to the chosen spot,   
and then returned to get the final remaining branches. In some of the brush off   
to the side of the clearing, Nephlite heard a struggle of some sort. He peeked   
between the branches of the foliage and saw that the little brown thing that he   
had seen earlier was fighting against a rather large snake.  
The snake moved first, lunging for the quick and easy kill. The rodent   
saw it coming and jumped out of its path. It made a run to get to the nearest   
escape route, but the snake recovered and struck again. Its teeth sunk deep in   
the back of the rodent. Very little blood escaped from around the fangs as the   
snake began to devour the rodent.  
Nephlite watched this display with slight disheartenment. He had caused   
the death of that creature by taking its home. And he probably could have done   
something to prevent the action from happening. That poor, innocent-  
Nehlite slapped himself again. Something must have been wrong with him.   
He had never had that happen to him before. Maybe all he needed was a little D   
and D (death and destruction) to get him back to normal.  
He returned to his campsite and began to set up his crude shelter. When   
he looked upon his temporary home, he was disgusted. He hated being reduced to   
the level of a beggar. He glanced at the vine from where he had gotten the   
fruit. There were more, but not enough to keep him fed until he got out of   
there.  
He could tell, even through the thick canopy, that it was getting to be   
night time. He would need a fire, not for heat, but to keep animals away.   
However, he didn't know how he would start a fire without his powers.. He began   
to gather wood, hoping to find a solution to his problem quickly. He didn't   
know what all would be around at night time.  
As Nephlite returned with his bundle of fire wood, he felt a few drops of   
rain hit his back. Damn! he thought to himself. Why now? Just when things   
were starting to go right! He threw the wood under the shelter and jumped in   
after it. As he settled himself against the side without an opening, the deluge   
began. The rain began to drip in from the ceiling. This is going to be a long   
ordeal, Nephlite thought to himself as he drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep,   
lulled by the sound of falling rain.  
  
When Nephlite awoke the next morning, the rain hadn't yet stopped. In the   
dim light, Nephlite could see a large, eight-legged figure moving on the ground   
beside him. Nephlite quickly grabbed a thick piece of wood from his pile and   
smacked the spider flat.  
Nephlite sat in his place for a moment. Now, why did I do that? he   
thought to himself. It was just in here for the same reason that I am, and   
besides that, what had it done to me? Besides, it had been really cute, as far   
as Earth animals went. He came to the conclusion that he had panicked and would   
try not to do it again.  
Nephlite walked out into the refreshingly cool rain to get some fruit. He   
knew that he would need some meat very soon. He hadn't seen any good, meaty   
animals since he had arrived One would think that with this lush vegetation,   
animals would be as large as humans!  
This inspired another thought. The animals might be that large, but   
hiding, in wait for his defenses to drop. A vestige of fear swept over Nephlite   
as he pictured a creature creeping through the underbrush around his camp, fangs   
glistening in the light, its eyes reflecting the light with an eerie green glow,   
its claws bared and ready to spring.  
A chill ran down Nephlite's spine, and he came to a quick decision. A   
weapon would be a nice thing for him to have in case something did come after   
him. Damn, he wished that he still had some energy. The active question being,   
of what would he make weapons?  
Nephlite quickly ran from the clearing, searching for something sharp, or   
something blunt, anything! A sharp-tipped stick might be nice. Maybe a rock   
with an edge. Hell, any rock!  
As he ran, Nephlite began to hear water running in the distance. Not   
rain; it was too... connected. It had to be a stream! And what stream didn't   
have a bed! And what bed didn't have rocks?! With his luck, this would be the   
only one.  
Nephlite changed course to go towards the running water. As he rushed   
through the underbrush, the water got louder. After a few moments, Nephlite saw   
sunlight glint off of water.  
As Nephlite burst into the clearing, the sound of animals retreating   
filled the air. A very popular water hole, Nephlite thought to himself. He   
rushed to the water side and threw his hands in the water. It felt warm against   
his skin as he splashed around, trying to find a rock.  
Nothing! Mud! Some plants, too! What was he supposed to do now? Keep   
searching! There had to be something there!  
As Nephlite continued digging through the mud, he felt something brush up   
against his hand. He went back to where he had felt the object and pulled it   
out of the muck. When he saw what he had, his eyes widened out of joy.  
In his hand, he held a medium-sized black rock. Probably an igneous,   
Nephlite thought idly to himself. He had been studying up on his geology for   
use in a future evil plot. This rock would be easy to give an edge. The oblong   
shape would make it a nice knife. Now, how would he sharpen it?  
It only took him a few more moments of searching in the same area to find   
another, smaller rock. He began to strike the smaller rock on the larger rock.   
Chips of rock flew in different directions, like tiny bullets from a slingshot.  
After one side began to take shape, Nephlite paused for a breather. He   
found a small bush with green fruits on it and grabbed a couple for a snack.   
They wouldn't be very filling, considering that they were as large as Nephlite's   
fist. Still, they were nice and juicy, and they quenched his thirst. They   
weren't sweet at all, like the other red fruits. While he snacked, a pair of   
glittering eyes watched him from the bushes.  
A while later, Nephlite's knife was finished. As Nephlite stood up, he   
noticed a large tiger sitting at the edge of the jungle. "Well, looks like I   
may get to use this knife in a minute," Nephlite said to himself. He hoped he   
wouldn't. With a large growl, the tiger lurched for him.  
Nephlite jumped out of the way of the tiger and just avoided getting a   
large hole slashed in his chest. Instead, he got a small wound in his lower   
leg. He was able to ignore the pain long enough to gather himself and prepare   
for a counter. Nephlite could feel the adrenaline enhancing his body functions.  
Just as the tiger landed, Nephlite rammed into its side, knocking it down.   
In an instant, he was holding down its arms and legs. Nephlite spent most of   
this time avoiding the teeth that struck repeatedly, only finding air. He   
risked letting go with one hand to reach his knife-rock. He drew back and   
stabbed down just as the jaws struck again. The stone went into the beast's   
skull, leaving a permanent mark on its brain.  
Nephlite was amazed at how strong he was. He would never have thought   
that he could manually kill a creature. He walked over to the side of the   
stream to splash his face with water. He needed to relax for a moment. He   
didn't expect what he saw when he turned around. He looked back at from where   
the tiger had come and saw a pair of young tiger cubs.  
"Oh, bloody hell," he said to himself.  
After a short bit of cleaning up (dragging the corpse into the underbrush   
where the cubs couldn't see it), he slowly approached the cubs. They didn't   
look old enough to take care of themselves. At first, they seemed to shy away   
from him. After a couple of tries, though, he was able to get close enough to   
pet the little animals. The first time that one snapped at his fingers, he   
concluded that they were hungry.  
He pictured the brown rodent and felt obligated to take care of the   
kittens, seeing as how he had killed their mother. For God's sake, she had only   
been trying to take care of them! Nephlite felt bad that he had killed her. Of   
course, what else would he have done? Let her kill him for her children's food?   
Well, maybe... No, that wouldn't help anything now. The damage had been done.   
He would have to make amends as best he could.  
Of course, the father would be along soon. Considering what male cats did   
to their kittens, that would not be a good thing. Nephlite would take them   
along with him. He carried the large cubs back to his hut and secured them in   
place. He wondered what sorts of things tigers ate. Well, meat, for starters.   
Now, where to find some?  
  
As Nephlite traipsed quietly through the forest with his "knife," he   
listened carefully for any signs of a potential meal. As he ran underneath the   
branch of a tree, a rustling noise came from above. He stopped to see what had   
caused the disturbance. As he looked up in the tree, a large snake fell on him   
and began to wrap him up.  
Nephlite was able to pull his arm loose and grab his knife. He then   
rolled over so that the snake's head was close to the ground. He could feel the   
wind being crushed out of his lungs as the coils tightened. As he began to feel   
dizzy, he drew his knife back and drove it into the skull of the snake.  
As the serpentine body fell limp to the ground, Nephlite gasped for   
breath. Laying on the ground, he wondered why this thing would have attacked   
him. He had done it no harm. Might it have been hungry? The thought of which   
reminded him that he had work to do. This fairly large snake would have to be   
enough to feed the cubs for now. And maybe even himself. He knew that he would   
have to find something for himself quickly. He didn't dare eat the tiger,   
since he was taking care of the cubs. It just didn't seem very right.  
He wasn't sure what to do next. He had prepared his home for the next few   
days. He had defenses for until his powers returned. The only thing that he   
needed to do was to find food for himself and find somewhere to leave the   
cubs in good hands. They wouldn't be able to survive on their own.  
Nephlite got up and searched the surrounding underbrush for anything else   
to eat. He found a nest of eggs, presumably from the snake. There would be   
little wrong with eating those. It's not like anyone else would use them. For   
Pete's sake, they probably wouldn't even hatch without something taking care of   
them. He sure had no idea how to take care of them. Besides that, he couldn't   
take care of everything that he disturbed. The point was, he was going to eat   
them, and give the snake to the cubs.  
He grabbed some fruit that he found on the way back, eating a small   
portion then to make sure that they weren't poisonous. He realized that he   
hadn't tested the other fruits, and felt a small pain in his stomach. "Probably   
psycho-somatic," he said to himself as he tried to figure out how to make a fire   
to cook the meat and eggs on. He went around, trying to find some dead, dry   
wood, but it was nowhere to be found. "Of course," he told himself. "It's a   
rainforest, moron." Well, he wouldn't need any fire for the kittens' food, and   
he wouldn't die from eating some raw eggs.  
  
As he was returning to his hut, it was a little after mid-day. It was   
hard to tell exactly what time without a clock. He had walked farther than he   
had originally thought, and the cubs were getting restless by the time he   
returned. He placed the food down in front of the cubs, who shied away from it   
initially. Nephlite backed away so that they might feel better about taking   
it. After a few minutes, the cubs cautiously approached and ate the meat that   
was laid before them. Nephlite didn't notice, as he was eating his own meal by   
then.  
He began thinking, as there was not much else to do. He had shelter, he   
couldn't get fire, and he wasn't very thirsty. He was very tired, though. He   
thought about taking a short nap. Survival tactics were really tiring when   
performed alone. And think, all animals did that for a living. Well, minus the   
tool-making and caring for other animals' offspring in normal circumstances.   
When he thought about it, he was surviving as early man had when they had   
started out. But then, mankind had gone and destroyed life in their path. Such   
barbarism!  
Wait, he said to himself. Haven't I killed things in my own efforts to   
survive?  
But mankind has killed so much more than I have. And look at the   
comfortable life style they live! I've tried to kill the least possible, and   
I'm living in miserable conditions! So, the more you kill, the more comfortable   
you are? No, but destruction is a necessary evil for survival. And more   
destruction is necessary for comfort.  
And I'm in the same boat as humans. Then are humans basically the same as   
me? Of course not. They don't have special powers. Well, neither do those   
tigers, or the spider, or the snake. How are they different then? If those   
tigers, the spider, or the snake deserved to live, then why don't humans?   
Because they're destroying a disproportionate amount of nature for their own   
comfort. Wouldn't the Negaverse do the same, though? Probably. Hadn't it done   
so in the past at other places? Definitely.  
Then what makes them any better than the humans? They're stronger. And   
does that give them the right to destroy and control? Did I have any right to   
kill the spider? Not really. If anything, the spider had the right to kill me.   
Then humans are the ones with the right to destroy-  
He stopped himself. He must have been delirious. The sheer thought of   
betraying the Negaverse sent shivers down his spine. He'd be killed before he   
could think thrice! There was nothing in his world other than the supremacy of   
the Negaverse, Queen Beryl, and Queen Metallia. But the reasoning seemed solid.   
Soon enough, though, there would be no conflict. They would win, and he'd be   
the one with power and recognition.  
He decided to stop thinking and find something to do. He'd walk around   
for a while and do something productive with his time. Something that wasn't   
thinking, since that seemed to be a fairly destructive activity. He began by   
grabbing a fruit to eat while he was walking. Before he left, he'd need a   
reference point to return to. He thought that he had enough energy to make a   
temporary homing point at his camp. Placing his hand to the ground, he   
channeled a flow of energy through his hands. As he drew his hand away, he   
could sense the dark energy emanating from the homing point. He just hoped that   
it would last him until he left. He grabbed his knife-rock and started walking   
in a straight line in a direction where he hadn't walked, noting landmarks on   
the way that would help him find his way back. He hoped that he would find some   
sort of large source of meat so that the cubs could eat later that night.  
After another good distance of walking, he came across another clearing,   
probably only a few weeks old. The wood from the fallen tree was mostly rotted   
through, and the newer growth reached up to his waist with a thin but sturdy   
trunk. Nearby, he heard the sounds of people talking. He didn't understand the   
language, but he could tell that it was human. He walked as quietly as he could   
to get as close as he could to the people without being seen. He could easily   
steal their energy, but why should he? Just so that he could quickly get back   
to the Negaverse and invoke Queen Beryl's wrath sooner? He doubted it. He'd   
prefer to recharge naturally. And besides, he had some tiger cubs to take care   
of.  
They began walking in Nephlite's direction. Nephlite got low to the   
ground and began walking in the opposite direction as quickly and as quietly as   
was possible in that position. They stopped walking and looked around, trying   
to find the source of the noise. Nephlite stopped and looked back. One carried   
a bow and arrows, the other spears. They were dressed in primitive clothing,   
simple pieces of cloth covering their essential parts.  
Natives, Nephlite thought to himself. Out hunting for food. I should   
watch them and see how they do it; what they eat and where they find it.  
Nephlite watched as the two hunters looked around them, towards the   
canopy. The first drew an arrow and shot it upwards into a tree near where   
Nephlite crouched. A bird squawked loudly and flew away. Apparently, the arrow   
had missed its mark. The hunters began walking again through the underbrush,   
hunting further and deeper into the forest. Or out of the forest. Nephlite   
didn't thoroughly know the geography of the area where they were. He'd just   
have to follow them for a while to figure out the surroundings.  
  
  
  
He returned to camp that night with some meat that he had killed on his   
own and the crude bow and arrows that he had fashioned himself after following   
the hunters and seeing what they were looking for. He also had a slightly   
better sense of direction than he had left with. The techniques that he had   
learned had been simple enough, but the places that he went to were so sparsely   
populated that he could only get small birds, which he brought back in   
abundance. Most probably, it would set both him and the cubs until the next   
morning. It was starting to get late, and he was getting tired, though. When   
Nephlite returned to the camp, he absorbed the beacon that he had placed to   
provide energy for at least a small fire. He started out with a small spark on   
wet leaves, then decided to give up and just light the whole darned pile of wood   
that he had.  
After removing the feathers from the birds, he held them over the fire to   
cook them a bit. As he held two birds over the fire, he heard the baby tigers   
meowing. They sounded distressed. Looking over at them, he realized that they   
were staring straight at him and his pile of food. He took his birds from the   
fire and threw the cubs a couple of the spare birds that he had. He watched   
them eating greedily and realized exactly how hungry he himself was. To aid in   
this realization, his stomach growled loudly. Nephlite decided that the birds   
that he had were cooked enough and took them off the stick gingerly. The flesh   
was still fairly hot, so he had to bite carefully into what little meat there   
was.  
"La Tour D'Argent, it isn't," Nephlite said to himself as he consumed what   
there was of the birds. "But it's probably better than what I'd be having if   
I'd returned to Queen Beryl."  
He finished off the birds, leaving only bones and wincing at the gamy   
taste as it traveled past his lips and down his throat as quickly as he could   
make it. Afterwards, he threw the bones into the woods as far as he could,   
hoping that they wouldn't attract any attention from more unwanted guests. As a   
quick dessert, a few more fruits from the surrounding trees would do. He was   
starting to feel much better about his chances for survival at that point. He   
looked over at the cubs, who had finished their food long ago and were in the   
middle of falling asleep.  
Those cubs would need to find a real home soon, Nephlite thought. He had   
heard that if young animals were cared for for too long, they would become   
domesticated, and it was difficult to impossible to re-educate some animals for   
release into the wild.  
Well, it was either risk domestication or let them die on their own,   
Nephlite said to himself. And I wasn't about to let the latter happen.  
It was getting dark, and Nephlite was tired from the day's work, so he   
decided to lay down for some sleep. There was really nothing else that he could   
do, or felt safe doing, in the middle of the night. Besides, he'd be   
teleporting out the next night, assuming he had the energy left to do it. And   
he'd go back to the Negaverse, where he'd continue his path of destruction in   
the name of Queen Metallia.  
But he had no right to destroy those things, especially not in the name of   
Queen Metallia. He couldn't go against Queen Beryl, though. She'd have him   
killed, just like Jadeite. Then, that hag, Zoicite would be in charge, and he   
wouldn't handle it at all in the right way. The man was too unquestioning, too   
inflexible. Nephlite had no idea what Malachite saw in him. For Nephlite,   
there was no questioning, but no following. He had reached a logical impass,   
fogging his mind. His head began to throb slightly with the stress of the line   
of thought that was running through his head. There was no way for him to work   
it out on his own, but he didn't know who he could talk to to help him. He   
certainly couldn't talk to Sailor Moon. He'd be killed immediately if he wasn't   
trying to kill her. A neutral go-between was what he needed, and the only one   
he could think of for that was Molly, the person who seemed to truly care for   
him.  
As his thoughts wandered further from the topic, he began to tire, and he   
eventually drifted to sleep.  
  
The next morning, Nephlite opened his eyes slowly against the dimmer than   
usual light under the canopy. It must have been clouding over. So then, it   
would probably rain soon thereafter. In other words, he should probably get his   
hunting done as quickly as was possible if he wanted to finish before the   
downpour began. Grabbing his bow and his arrows, he headed out and began to   
search for anything that he could find to fill his growling stomach. As he   
walked, he grabbed some fruits to snack on. He was running low back at his   
shelter, so he would have to take some back with him.  
He walked along, adding beacons for him to find his way back every once in   
a while. He found that it took less energy to place smaller beacons further   
apart from each other, so he did that. He wasn't going to waste any energy if   
he didn't have to. There wouldn't be much longer until he could teleport out,   
but he still had to find a home for the tiger cubs. That was the last thing   
that he would do before leaving.  
After collecting a fair number of birds and other smaller animals, he   
headed back to camp again and ate, giving the cubs their share, as well. The   
cubs seemed to be calming down that morning, which was not a good sign.   
Passiveness often led to docility, and docility can mean domesticated. As   
little as he was down with the native tongue, Nephlite thought that the best way   
to find out if anyone could take care of the cubs would be to visit the village   
and find out if anyone could help him. Well, first off, to find out if anyone   
spoke Japanese.  
As he strode through the forest towards the village, he felt glad that he   
had taken as much time the day before and that day to explore his surroundings,   
taking note of rudimentary directions. It was much easier to find the edge of   
the village after having been there a few times already. He watched cautiously   
from the edge of the trees as the few people who lived there walked past his   
hiding place. When the coast was clear, he tried leaving the confines of the   
underbrush to take a look around.  
The village was smaller than he had thought from a distance, only three   
real houses and a few huts. There was little technology to be seen anywhere in   
the clearing, so they were probably nowhere near civilization. From one of the   
houses, though, he heard a familiar sound. A grainy voice was calling out the   
plays of a baseball game in Japanese. Nephlite approached the house and knocked   
on the door. A young man poked his head around the corner of the building with   
a confused look on his face. He had brown eyes that scanned Nephlite, trying to   
tell anything about the mysterious man who was standing at his doorway. His   
black hair was a bit longer than most men would keep it.  
"Hello? Yes? Can I help you?" the young man greeted.  
"Well, I'm lucky I found you, whoever you are," Nephlite said genially.   
"There's a bit of a problem in the forest. There was a tiger killed, and it had   
cubs. I was wondering if there was anything that we could do for them."  
"I'm not sure, sir," the young man said. "Oh, sorry for not introducing   
myself. My name is Hirya Masumoto. I'm a missionary here, working with the   
indigenous people."  
"Well, that sounds like fun," Nephlite said.  
"It may not be fun, per se, but it is fulfilling to me," Hirya said. "So,   
where are these cubs of yours?"  
"They're out in the forest," Nephlite said. "I'll get them."  
"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Hirya asked.  
"Trust me, I'll be fine," Nephlite said, smirking. He left the house and   
ran back to his campsite. The cubs were still there, as if they'd have gone   
anywhere. He picked them up and carried them back through the forest to the   
village and Hirya's house.  
"Wow, you really meant it!" Hirya marveled as Nephlite walked through the   
door, cubs in arm.  
"Yeah, I doubt I'd lie about something like that," Nephlite replied.  
"You 'doubt'?" Hirya asked.  
"One doesn't know what one will say after he's been lost for two days in   
the middle of the rainforest," Nephlite replied.  
"Wow! How'd you get lost in there, anyway?" Hirya asked.  
"It's a long story," Nephlite said. "I'd rather not tell it."  
Hirya paused to look at Nephlite. "You're not a poacher, are you?"  
"No! Not at all!" Nephlite said. "Look at my torn clothes and dirty   
face. Would a poacher have those?"  
"I suppose not," Hirya said. "Sorry about that. You never know   
sometimes."  
"Well, I guess you've got to ask," Nephlite said. Hirya looked away to   
find something to use to keep the cubs in place.  
"Look, you're welcome to stay here as long as you need. I'm sure that the   
authorities, when they come to take these cubs, would be glad to help you get   
back to-" He turned around to ask Nephlite where he was from, and met only with   
an empty doorway.  
  
Nephlite trudged through the forest back towards his campsite. He   
probably had enough energy to teleport back to the Negaverse by then. There was   
only one thing left to take care of. He had to destroy his campsite. As he   
approached the edge of the area he had called home for the previous two days, he   
realized that it was quiet around him. Usually, the lack of sound was a bad   
sign. It hardly mattered to him, since he was going to be leaving soon anyway.   
He held out his hand and powered up a shot that would demolish everything that   
he had made in the clearing. Before he released the shot, though, he stopped to   
think. He would end up destroying everything else in the clearing, as well as   
everything he had made. That probably wasn't the best action, given his past   
two days in the clearing. He powered down the shot and began to deconstruct the   
structures that he had raised by hand, dragging the wood into the forest and   
scattering it. It was of no use to him anymore, but it might be of use to   
someone or something else.  
As he threw the final log into the forest, Nephlite looked around him.   
Other than some flattened underbrush, it was exactly as he had found it. He   
grabbed a few of the fruits to take back with him and prepared to teleport. The   
first thing that he would do when he got back would be to talk to Molly and work   
out his problem with her. He wouldn't take part in any more evil plans if she   
thought that he shouldn't. Her answer would be true to the heart. She really   
did care for him, so much more than anyone in the Negaverse did. This   
destruction of innocents for the "greater good" would stop.  
  
The End  
  
Well, it took me a frickin' long time to finish it, but here's the finished   
first draft of this. Eventually, I'll revise it and work out any of the   
problems in it. Overall, after a bit of revision, I think this is probably one   
of my better fanfics. Basically, I thought that in the show (yeah, the DiC   
dub), they kinda' jumped a bit too quickly from Nephlite being completely evil   
to Nephlite being in love with Molly and in trouble with Queen Beryl, so I tried   
to show the intermediate steps as they may have been. The results were pretty   
well done, I think. So, there we are. That's the end. E-mail me at:   
jmh6187@uncwil.edu with any C&C you may have. They're really helpful to me   
whenever I get them!  
  
M.H. Torringjan 


End file.
